Hollywood's Bleeding, Post Malone
All albums are reviewed on a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest possible score.
Please Note: All views expressed here are the author’s own.
Post Malone has successfully made the transition from beer bongs to bottle service, smashing the one-hit-wonder reputation people attributed to him before the release of his second chart-topping Billboard Top 100 hit, “Congratulations.”
He has expanded his stardom into numerous unconventional products, from rosé to marijuana to Crocs, that has broadened his societal influence beyond his music. Malone shows the music world that he is a versatile artist through his genre-bending, laconic lyrics and angsty persona. With the release of his newest album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, all eyes are on him to see if his streak of monstrous success will continue.
The album kicks off with the title track, “Hollywood’s Bleeding.” The song starts with a classic emo wooing from Malone, encouraging the anxious beads of sweat from his fans as they wait to see if he’ll feed them the tasteful album they’ve been waiting for. After a minute, the beat drops, faster electronic beats are cued, the momentum of the song picks up and Malone practically screams the lyrics “outside the winter sky turnin’ grey / city up in smoke it’s only ash when it rains.” The song is a Post Malone classic as he switches from a smoky saddened serenade to an energized cry-out, drawing the audience in with a suspenseful intro.
The album also features a variety of pop and rap artists including Halsey and Travis Scott, in addition to the aged, but thriving heavy metal legend, Ozzy Osbourn on “Take What You Want.” On this track, Malone integrates his experience playing in a heavy metal band with his authentic pop sound.
Malone switches out his traditional whiny pop sound for mature rock vocals that fall more in line with late 20th-century rock singers. The variety of vocal ranges in this track of Osbourn, Travis Scott and Malone offers more diversity than the repetitive songs that make up much of the album. Not to mention the killer body-trembling electric guitar solo that wraps up the song, making it no surprise that it stands as Malone’s third most popular song on Spotify.
Prior to the release of Hollywood’s Bleeding, Malone was outspoken about his personal growth and transition as an artist and person — more frequently talking about his family goals and settling down instead of living a life full of strippers and booze luges. This trend shows up on the album in songs like “Sunflower,” “I’m Gonna Be,” and the modern forbidden love duet he sings with SZA in “Staring At The Sun.” As Malone sings, “blinded by the thought of us / I’m gonna be what I want, what I want / wish I could be there for ya”, he strays from the reckless, misogynistic lyrics his audience is used to, appearing to have the empathy we didn’t know existed.
This new Malone doesn’t completely outshine the glowering, paranoid rapper that captured all our sullen little hearts back in 2015 with the release of his first hit “White Iverson.” In songs like “Goodbye” featuring Young Thug, and “Internet,” there is no shortage of darkness and anxiety. He expresses his disinterest and monumental hatred of the media through the song “Internet.” Between a sweet background orchestra and instrumental solos, Malone sings “paranoid since they’ve been leakin’ my shit / well, fuck the internet, and you can quote that” revealing that he still has no shortage of uncertainty about the world around him.
Overall, Hollywood’s Bleeding features unique tracks like “Take What You Want,” that validate Post Malone’s stratospheric fame and ability to cross genres and collaborate with a diverse range of artists. However, he could have cut a few songs out. On tracks like “Myself,” Malone’s verse and melody almost exactly parallel “Sunflower.” In addition, there is an uncanny similarity between “Die For Me” featuring Halsey and Future and “Saint-Tropez.” These two songs share similar beats, but with different grumpy and conceited lyrics about diamond rings and Versace boxers. These tracks only serve to add content to the album and dilute the staggering success of tracks like the chart-topper, “Circles.”
With Hollywood’s Bleeding, Malone feeds his fans the tasteful record they are looking for. On parts of his album, he tries new vocal ranges and collaborations that are outside his normal realm, while still providing his traditional sound that appeals to the conventional masses. These factors put Post Malone’s dense new album in its rightful spot on top of the charts.